According the news agency Reuters, cities in Indonesia like Jakarta and the surrounding area called Jabotabek which includes Jakarta, Bogor, Tangerany and Bekasi with a population pushing 25 million are losing the battle against water through subsidence.
"The problem is particularly acute in Jakarta because most of its millions of residents suck water through wells that tap shallow underground aquifers.
"Wells also provide about a third of the needs of business and industry, according to city data. 'It’s like swiss cheese underneath,' a World Bank’s representative said.
'Groundwater extraction is unparalleled for a city of this size. People are digging deeper and deeper, and the ground is collapsing.'
"The effect is worsened by the sheer weight of Jakarta’s urban sprawl. Economic development in recent decades has transformed the city’s traditional low-rise silhouette into a thickening forest of high-rise towers. The weight of all those buildings crushes the porous ground underneath."
Annual floods in the rainy season are made worse by burgeoning urban population growth. Jakarta is considered a 'mega-city' or an 'urban agglomeration.' As people leave rural areas moving into the city outskirts, the old forests and wetlands around the city disappear. The infrastructure to support the population is nonexistent in many areas.
The loss of environmentally-sensitive and flood-forgiving land in a city of massive poverty and slums has degraded life and water quality for everyone.
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